datix

1. CASE STUDY: NOVANT HEALTH
Breaking down
silos to improve
liability outcomes
Novant Health includes acute care medical centers, outpatient
surgery centers, physician offices, neighborhood medical
plazas, rehabilitation programs, diagnostic imaging centers
and community health outreach programs. Headquartered
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Novant Health serves
approximately 4.7 million patients in physician clinics annually as
well as 562,299 patient admissions in the acute facilities in 2017.
Novant Health is a not-for-profit, integrated
healthcare system that serves patients and
communities in Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia.

2. 1
Case Study: Novant Health
The organization needed a reliable data system that would
allow the team to track and provide accurate information for
risk and claims management opportunities. The legacy systems
created a fractured environment of documentation, making it
difficult to track and manage issues easily and accurately. As the
organization grew, Novant needed a system that would allow
them to minimize the silos and encourage teams to use incident,
grievance and tracking systems to improve their access to
information and thus improve work streams.
From administering physician malpractice insurance applications
and premiums to managing professional and general liability
claims, Novant Health was using multiple IT applications. The
multiple legacy databases and historical data additions to those
systems, led to concerns about historical data integrity and
process consistencies for integration of new departments and
service lines. The concern for data corruption, historical data
errors and incorrect calculations resulted in the need for a
solution that could address the needs of the organization.
Multiple systems created silos
leading to conflicting information
and productivity loss
These challenges along with the need to correct the legacy
databases, led Novant Health to look for a software solution
that could help provide accurate data, aid in the management
of reviewing and tracking incidents, as well as managing
medical malpractice and general liability claims data.

3. 2
In January of 2016, Novant made the decision to move to the RL
software – a robust and fully integrated healthcare management
solution by RLDatix. Following the successful integration of the
Claims and Risk modules, the organization saw an opportunity to
add the Feedback module to manage complaints and grievances in
January 2018 further enhancing the entire system.
With the new solution, Novant was able to harness the power of
event information and leverage the flexibility of the software to
create formulas and policy towers to support the organizational
hierarchy.
Having integrated modules, teams have found themselves
collaborating more often to determine how they can leverage the
data and the system to enhance their workflow. To mention a few,
the NH team has worked with privacy, lab, sourcing and nursing
to enhance those workflows and improve reporting and data
management within the RL database. The result is a more holistic
way of communicating, which benefited all parties involved.
Full integration for
improved data management
and communication
“Timely reporting is essential to a healthy
claims management system. The use of RL
Claims allows us to do that.”
Nan Holland, VP Corporate Risk Management and Claims

4. Claim lag is measured by calculating the time between the event and
the date the event was reported. Insurers use this KPI to help predict
the future budgets. The improvement of the claims lag often reflects
healthy reporting within a risk and claims management system that
allows the organization to learn of opportunities and investigate
events early in the process. This also allows them to assume healthy
funding for future losses.
Reducing claim lag enhances cost savings, and the use of RL Claims
enhances this process.
3
Reducing claim lag enhances
the ability of the health system
to predict and manage losses
Case Study: Novant Health
Across the system, Novant has been able to reduce the
organization’s claims lag as well as improve data integrity
all while improving user satisfaction with the use of the RL
system – a result they are very proud of.

5. 4
Additional cost savings and more accurate financials
By leveraging and customizing the RL databases within
the Risk Module, Novant has managed to improve
communication regarding events and to identify trends
and opportunities for improvement in the organization.
This synergy has helped Novant enhance its mission
as a leading healthcare provider, aiming to provide the
most remarkable patient experience in every dimension
every time. “The RL Claims module can accommodate
complicated risk funding and claims requirements” says
Beverly Groseclose, Manager Risk and Claims Admin
and Data Support.
The seamless integration of RL modules ensures
Novant can review and use the risk information to
escalate a claim if needed.
With the help of RL Claims module, Novant has been
able to track claims through their entire life cycle and
organize the information with a virtually paperless
claim process.
Professional liability and general liability claims
information can now be tracked in one place.
Tracking claims through
the entire life cycle
“The RL software offers a single source for
managing and reporting accurate claims
management data.”
Beverly Groseclose, Manager Risk and Claims Admin
and Data Support
Data integrity was one of the main requirements when
selecting a reporting system. Beverly comments, “The RL
software has provided us with a more reliable database for
our financial reports. In addition, we can now run various
trend reports based on our organization needs”.
Accurate loss run reports and data tracking allow for
efficient funding and enhances the credibility of the
program with both internal and external customers. The
software tracks transactions and reserves so Novant can
be confident of the financials and allocate funds as needed.
Case Study: Novant Health

6. Leaders at Novant Health identified a series of triggers (harm,
medication issues, the need for additional treatment, etc.) that could
result in professional liability or general liability claims.
These triggers cover a wide array of events that, when detected in the
organization can result in alerts notifying the risk management team.
This enhances the ability of the team to respond appropriately.
This workflow, using data from the integration of RL Claims and Risk
modules, is more seamless than with the legacy system.
The beneficiaries are employees, providers and patients alike. The
result is the enhanced ability to support the organizational mission of
improving the health of our communities one person at a time.
Since the 2016 RL software implementation and conversion of legacy data,
the collaboration between the Risk, Claims, Complaints and Grievances
teams has been optimized. Data is shared with appropriate team members
at the appropriate time, while maintaining the integrity and confidentiality
of the system and each team’s work function. Data re-entry errors have been
drastically reduced and all but eliminated by importing case information
directly using the RL software. We have been able to improve work flow and
communication among teams, as well as improve the integrity of our reporting
systems leading to a higher confidence level of the data across the functions.
Alerts to stay on
top of their events
5
Case Study: Novant Health

7. @RLDatix
RLDatix is on a mission to change healthcare. We help organizations
drive safer, more efficient care by providing governance, risk and
compliance tools that drive overall improvement and safety. Our suite
of cloud-based software helps organizations reduce healthcare-acquired
infections, report on adverse events, and ensure patient safety learnings
are deployed effectively and immediately through dynamic policy and
procedure management.
With over 3,000 customers in 19 countries, RLDatix software protects
hundreds of millions of patients around the world. For more information,
visit www.rldatix.com.
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